According to the investigation, only 20 minutes passed since a nursing home staff member saw the victim and the time of his death. An alarm also sounded when the man passed through a security door.

The resident who died suffered from dementia, a condition that often makes its victims prone to wandering. Many facilities who treat patients with cognitive disorders have security doors and alarms to alert staff when residents wander out of range.

Just last month we told you about a resident of a Massachusetts nursing home who died after the wheelchair she was in rolled down a flight of stairs. The woman had wandered off from the nursing home unnoticed. Family members argued nursing staff should have taken stronger measures to ensure her safety. She was not wearing the doctor-prescribed security bracelet that would sound an alarm if she wandered too close to the facility’s exit. Regardless, family members want to know why no one on staff even noticed her leaving. In that case, the parent company, Life Centers of America, which owns Life Care Center of Acton, was charged with manslaughter neglect of a long-term care facility resident. The company faces up to $6,000 in fines.

Sources:
Brenham Banner-Press

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home resident dies after fall down steps

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Had McCauley been wearing the doctor-prescribed bracelet that would sound an alarm and lock the doors if she wandered too close to the home’s exit, perhaps her story wouldn’t have ended so tragically. Attorney General Martha Coakley believes the home was negligent by not ensuring that McCauley was wearing the bracelet.

The home’s parent company, Life Care Centers of America, headquartered in Tennessee, is charged with manslaughter neglect of a long-term care facility resident. Trial began this week in Middlesex Superior Court, according to the Wicked Local. The company faces up to $6,000 in fines if found liable.

Life Care operates more than 200 facilities in 28 states and has been in the spotlight for erroneous practices in the past. In 2005, the company shelled out $2.5 million to resolve a Medicaid/Medicare fraud case. In 2007, the company paid an additional $164,000 for deficiencies directly related to deficient resident care that put resident’s in harms way.

Meantime, the Massachusetts legislature is considering a change in law that would increase the maximum fine for a corporation convicted of manslaughter from $1,000 to $250,000. If the law is passed, it would not apply retrospectively to McCauley’s case.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home corporation faces manslaughter charges

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This week in Framingham, Massachusetts, the Boston Herald reported that a former nursing home aide was charged with sexually molesting a 62-year-old woman at Sudbury Pines Extended Care who had recently suffered a stroke which had greatly limited her ability to speak.

Despite her condition, investigators were able to interview the woman. She was able to answer yes and no questions and point to various parts of her body. From that, investigators ascertained that nursing aide Kofi Agana reportedly walked into the room of the victim while she was awake and her roommate asleep, and closed the door nearly all the way. He then rubbed the woman’s breasts and pinned her arms down as he touched her genital area. Agana was accused of assaulting the nursing home resident. He pled not guilty and is being held on $500 bond. He also was fired from the facility where he had worked since August.

In the same week just states away, 2 News TV reported that a Nampa, Idaho, man was arrested for sexually assaulting a mentally disabled resident of an assisted living facility where he worked as a case worker.

The accused, Thomas Hamlin, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. The victim is reportedly in her 50s. The name of the assisted living facility where the incident occurred is not known, though reports say the incident occurred within the past few months.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Sexual abuse reported at nursing homes, assisted living facilities

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Gregory Logan chose instead to fight the charge.

Last week, Attorney General Martha Coakley cleared Gregory Logan of larceny, according to Wicked Local Braintree.

The announcement comes nearly three years after charges were initially filed against the men. All three were initially charged with taking more than $600, 000 of the $34 million in Medicare funds during that time while also failing to provide basic goods and services to the residents of their facilities. They also were accused of failing to remit deductions withheld from employees’ wages and for a company-sponsored retirement plan. The investigation also revealed that the facilities frequently experienced shortages of food, medicine, personal hygiene items and linens. Vendor bills often went unpaid which resulted in lapses of services such as pest control and medical waste pickups.

“There are two sides to every story. I was accused of stealing from the elderly, and I refused to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit,” Gregory Logan said to reporters.

In 2003, a judge put four of the homes into receivership and the fifth went into receivership a year later. Since then, two of the homes have closed and three were sold to other companies.

Now cleared of wrongdoing, Gregory Logan says he is distancing himself from his family and hopes to continue in health care management.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Nursing home founders’ grandson cleared of larceny

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The assistant attorney general accused the men of taking more than $600,000 of the $34 million in Medicare funds during that time while also failing to provide basic goods and services to residents of their facilities. Both pleaded guilty in July to misappropriating Medicaid funds, conspiracy, larceny, embezzlement and patient neglect. They were put on a five-year probation and were ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution.

Charges were filed after a three-year investigation which also revealed that the Logan facilities frequently experienced shortages of food, medicine, personal hygiene items and linens. Vendor bills often went unpaid, which resulted in lapses of services such as pest control and medical waste pick-ups.

The Logans also are accused of failure to remit about $55,000 in deductions withheld from employees’ wages for a company-sponsored 401(k) plan. They also are charged with failure to remit more than $22,000 in employee wage withholdings for short-term disability policies and individual life insurance policies.

Gregory Logan’s grandparents Samuel and Florence Logan founded the nursing home operation. The family once owned and operated one of the largest and oldest nursing home operations in the region. In 2003, a judge put four of the homes into receivership, and the fifth home went into receivership in 2004. The order was spurred by mismanagement of the homes. Since then, two of the homes have closed and three were sold to other companies.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Owner of nursing homes faces larceny, conspiracy charges

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The LEAPS (Leaders in Elder Abuse Prevention) initiative will bring together agencies, community organizations, and health care providers responsible for the care of senior citizens in an effort to better identify seniors who may be suffering from abuse or living in at-risk situations. Once these individuals are identified, LEAPS would help get them proper care and get them out of a negative situation before it escalates.

Officials say that by the time a case of elder abuse is brought to their attention, it is too late. Often, there are warning signs that could have signaled danger, and if those signals had been picked up, the negative situation could have been stopped before it got worse. LEAPS will train members to detect signs of elder abuse and how they can better assist in individual cases. This includes assisting financially strapped caregivers with prescriptions, transportation, food and health services.

The Boston Globe story states that in addition to the Office of Elder Affairs and the Middlesex district attorney’s office, institutions that have joined LEAPS include Emerson Hospital in Concord, Lahey Clinic in Peabody and Burlington, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. The initiative does not call for any public funding, as it is a simple sharing of services and information.

Individuals in the Middlesex area can contact the Elder Abuse Hotline at 800-922-2275; Protective Services Programs and Services at 617-727-7750; and Prescription Advantage at 800-243-4636.

SOURCE: Nursing Home Abuse › Agencies team up to prevent elder abuse

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